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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408730">Mandarin Mimosas</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenMadds/pseuds/QueenMadds'>QueenMadds</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV), NCIS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bakery and Coffee Shop, Coffee Shops, Crushes, F/M, First Dates, First Meetings, Flirting, Meet-Cute</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:53:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408730</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenMadds/pseuds/QueenMadds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is tired, it’s been a long week, and no matter how motivated he is to solve a case he still gets burned out. But this coffee shop, the Cinnamon Spoon, has become his escape. Here he can relax, enjoy overly sweet coffee concoctions and not worry about the crimes and criminals that surround the rest of his life. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen frequents the café, her bright bubbly behaviour is like a balm on his weary soul.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anthony DiNozzo/Penelope Garcia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>186</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mandarin Mimosas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony hides a sigh as Gibbs gives the two of them assignments, Kate getting alibis and Tony looking into the credit card purchases of their victim.</p><p>An hour passes slowly, time moving like molasses, he can see the exhaustion on Kate’s face and knows his face must be reflecting that same feeling.</p><p>“Go home. Be back by 0700.”</p><p>“Yes, boss.” They reply in unison, the two agents collecting their things and making their way out the door faster than the speed of sound.</p><p>“God, I’m so ready to finally get some sleep!”</p><p>“Got anyone special to share that big ol’ bed of yours Katie? Someone keeping it warm for you?” Tony knows he borders on harassing, but at the end of the day, he knows the familiar bantering is good for both of them, a way to let off the stress of the job on someone who won't hold it against them. Plus if Kate ever seriously needed him to stop he would, he knows where the line is.</p><p>“You’d love that wouldn’t you, you pig!”</p><p>“Oh no, I’ve already got someone filling that position, but if you really want we could give it a practice try?” He leers at her.</p><p>“In your dreams,” she snaps back but Tony sees her shoulders lose their tension, and a nearly imperceptible grin grace her face.</p><p>“That they are!”</p><p>“Good<em>night</em> Tony.” She aggressively bids goodbye as they exit the elevator and make their way to their cars in opposite directions.</p><p>“Goodnight Katie, Sweet dreams!”</p><p>Now, don’t get him wrong, he loves his job, but somedays Tony thinks of how much easier life would be if he went into something less interesting, though he doesn’t do well with boredom so anything less interesting would also drive him insane. And at the end of the day, even with all the horrible crimes, cold cases, inability to maintain a relationship (the job deserves some of the blame), endings that suck, and all the paperwork, it's all worth it.</p><p>Tony relaxes into the seat and takes a moment, sighing, and then trying to figure out if he’ll be able to achieve sleep anytime soon.</p><p>“Nope, no sleep for me.” He grumbles to himself, “No coffee at his godforsaken hour, but maybe some tea would be good…” He continues, thinking of the tea he has at home. When none of that catches his interest, and the idea of going home to his miserably empty apartment just makes his mood worse he starts thinking of other options. Then he thinks of his favourite café, a small hole-in-the-wall, locally-owned place, the <em>Cinnamon Spoon</em>, his preferred place to unwind and enjoy the exotic teas and coffee options they boast. Their tea selection is so varied that he often buys them for Ducky, getting excited rambles about the history of them and the last time he had that particular tea. Or in rare occasions the older gentleman exclaiming that it is a new blend for him, those times are especially nice as the two men share the new experience and chat.</p><p>Mind made up he smoothly pulls out of the parking lot and onto the quiet roads, nowhere in DC is it ever completely quiet but 2200 is late enough for most traffic to be off the streets.</p><p>The outside of the shop is quaint, white and black striped awning covering the small tables and chairs, near-deserted at the late hour, the <em>Cinnamon Spoon</em> is printed in simple lettering above the awning, black against the rest of the building’s white. Through the large window, he can see the baristas busy at work.</p><p>The black and white of the building is offset by the bright green plants hanging on either side of the awning, and shrubs bracketing the door. Above the cafe is an apartment with the outside brick painted white to match the cafe below. On the twin windows of the apartment are purple flowers spilling down from the window box planters.</p><p>Jamie, a young woman studying engineering (on her breaks they’ll often talk about movies), and Rowan, a young trans woman a year older than Jamie in her second year of law school (he’ll often chat with her about the real-life applications of the laws she studies). They’re good kids and have become one of the reasons he frequents the shop.</p><p>Stepping inside Tony is greeted with the warmth of the shop, the smell of coffee, warm baked bread, and happy greetings from the girls.</p><p>“Good evening, how have you’ve you two been?” He greets back quickly stepping up to the ordering station. His eyes take in the rest of the café, taking stock of all the people inside it.</p><p>A hipster-looking man, early thirties, typing away on his laptop, headphones on, focus completely on the screen and his drink. A young androgynous person, face slightly obscured by a book, sipping slowly out of a huge mug, their eyes darted up when he first entered but other than that they’ve ignored him completely. And as fate would have it the final occupant is Penelope Garcia, not that Tony knows that.</p><p>To him, she is the nameless beauty occupying his mind. Blonde hair, dark eyes framed by bright red glasses, her heels and accessories the same shade red as her glasses, heels showing off the definition of her calves which are encased in polka dot fishnets (which do terrible things to his brain), her dress today is black with a white pattern, not as bright or exciting as some of her other outfits, but the bright red accents add her touch to the ensemble. She looks beautiful and Tony is hard-pressed to take his eyes off her, but despite what Kate might say he wasn’t raised in a barn and with great effort tears his eyes away from the beautiful woman who ensured he would always come to this coffee shop just in case he sees her.</p><p>She’s younger than him, but within approximately 5-7 years of Tony, he can’t pin down her job, he’s seen her with people he knows for sure are agents, FBI likely, but she is definitely not a field agent of any kind. What he does know is that she knows the baristas as well as he does, tips hugely, often over 50%, has her laptop with her almost 24/7, is bubbly and happy, and something about the way she dressed tells him that she dresses for herself first and the world last. An exciting deviation from the rest of DC, where appearances are more than everything.</p><p>While her looks first drew his attention, her kind yet fierce attitude is what focused that attention on her for the past 7 months.</p><p>She comes into the café randomly – some weeks it would be daily, morning and evening, occasionally on weekends with the aforementioned agent friends, along with some friends who are harder to figure out, then she would drop off the face of the earth for days at a time, then reappear again. His best guess – and yes he’s put some thought into it – is that she either travels for work or has an unpredictable schedule that keeps her in the office for unpredictable hours.</p><p>Put all those observations together and she captures his attention unlike anyone before, she is addicting and a part of him rages every time he stops himself from making any semblance of a move on her. Every time he forces himself to stay seated and focus on his coffee instead of her he curses his unusual (for him) cowardice.</p><p>“You ever going to ask her out?” Rowan teases, approaching the till “It’s been like 6 months eventually you’ll have to actually talk to her.”</p><p>“Yeah, I know, I know, I just don’t know when… Can I get that Mandarin tea you told me I’d like?”</p><p>“Oooh, the Mandarin Mimosa! You’ll love it, Tony!” Rowan excitedly bounces, tight coils bouncing with her.</p><p>“Let's see how well you know my taste buds then.”</p><p>“Trying Ro’s recommendation? The Mandarin Mimosa right?” Jamie asks, head popping up from behind the counter. He nods, a great deal of his stress quickly falling away at the sight of his two friends. </p><p>"That's the one Jay!"</p><p>“You keep letting her boss you around and you’ll never get to order again! You’ll come in one day and Ro’ll just tell you what your drinking that day!”</p><p>“I wouldn’t!” Ro laughs</p><p>“I mean that does sound like you…” Tony teases back laughing lightly at the bickering women, “Jay you’ve got some paint,” he taps his finger to his chin.</p><p>“How does this always happen to me! And you!” She points accusingly at Rowan, “Why didn’t you say anything!”</p><p>“I wanted to see how long it would take for you to notice on your own… If Tone didn’t foil my plans I’m sure it would’ve been a lot longer than the 4 hours!”</p><p>“You suck!” Jamie laughs attempting to punch the shorter girl in the arm.</p><p>“Nah, you’re the only one here who likes sucking anything!”</p><p>“Hey! You know I prefer girls!”</p><p>“Still like guys though!”</p><p>“Fair enough…” she dramatically concedes. They chat a little more while Jamie prepares his tea, in one of her classes she’s working on the laws surrounding habeas corpus and he rattles off some references for her to look into.</p><p>“Order up!” Jamie calls even though he’s literally right in front of her, “You really should talk to her, insider information is that she’s single… But how long will that last?” she quietly tells him while passing over the large red mug.</p><p>The café is nearly empty, so Tony has his pick of tables. Tony makes his way, tea in hand, to the table in the corner with the perfect line of sight to the rest of the café and both doorways. Suddenly a body makes contact with his side and they spill their thankfully cold, drink all over his side and Tony’s Mandarin Mimosa falls onto his shoes. He whirls around and catches the blonde before she could join their drinks on the ground. One hand holds her upper arm while the other lightly touches her side. Their eyes meet and they freeze in the moment. She’s more beautiful up close, her eyes drawing him in.</p><p>“Ohmygod, I’m so sorry!” She gasps mouth dropping open in surprise.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I should have been paying more attention,” He was paying attention, she was in his blind spot – but no need for her to know that.</p><p>“I am so sorry,” She ignores his reassurances and grabs some napkins from the table next to them, “I can't believe I got my coffee all over your suit!”</p><p>“Don’t worry, it was due to be dry cleaned anyway,” Which in all fairness is true, this last case he at the very least got blood on himself.</p><p>“I’ll pay for the dry cleaning,” She smiles up at him sweetly and if he wasn’t already gone on this woman, this would have done it for him.</p><p>“Let me buy you a drink to make up for my inattention, what’s your poison?”</p><p>“It’s my fault let me pay.” Her voice is sweet, and his heart is quickening its pace.</p><p>“What kind of man would I be if I let a beautiful woman like you pay for her own drink? Much less mine?”</p><p>“Well!” She smiles radiantly, “thank you, my knight in shining armour!” They step apart, Tony returns her smile, normally he would grin playfully or smirk attractively but he’s helpless to stop the beaming smile he sends her way, though if the way her cheeks lightly colour it’s not a bad thing.</p><p>“Tony…” was all he managed to get out as he shook her hand in greeting, the breathtaking smile on her face melts his brain, “Ah, sorry I’m not usually lost for words, but you are so beautiful.” Finally, some of the suave charm he’s developed over the years returns to him, though it’s far more honest than his usual flirting.</p><p>“Tony DiNozzo,” He continues, “But I can be your knight anytime,” He flirts, he would be an idiot to miss this opportunity, and while many things can be said about him, no one can say he’s truly an idiot.</p><p>“Queen of all things noble and ignoble, Penelope Garcia.” She seems to regain some confidence, but Tony’s always been good at reading people and can see the red dusting her face, and the sweet smile on her face, she’s using flirting in the same way he is – to regain their equilibrium.</p><p>Penelope, the name suites her well, not that Tony's an expert in names, but some just fit people. It's strange having a name for his secrete little infatuation of the last 6 months.</p><p>“I already have my hunk of chocolate thunder filling that role full-time, but you could always work weekends.” She continues, adjusting her bright red glasses, and giving him an obvious up-and-down.</p><p>“I don’t know if I could bear not having my Lady’s full attention.” He flirts back while leading her back to the counter to re-order their drinks.</p><p>They pause their flirting, “So what were you drinking before I ran into you?”</p><p>“I maintain that it was my fault, I was having a tea Rowan recommended, the Mandarin Mimosa I think it was,”</p><p>“Oooh, now that sounds like fun!”</p><p>“There’s no booze, but it’s pretty good,” Tony adds smiling down the blonde by his side. He has the sudden urge to tuck her under his arm and hold her close. But when it comes to Penelope he’s gotten good at tamping down his impulses.</p><p>“Let’s get two of the Mandarin Mimosas please Ro,”</p><p>“You’ll love it! I was planning to recommend it to you the next time you came in!” Rowan smiles excitedly, “You two have really similar tastes in drinks so you cut my job of recommending in half!” She wiggles in excitement, a common thing for the dark-skinned woman.</p><p>“Thanks, Ro,” Tony grins happily, dropping a $20 into the tip jar, then following Penelope as she leads him to a nearby table to await their teas.</p><p>“I like a man who tips.” She smiles seeming to come out of her shell a little more.</p><p>“I like a woman who likes a man who tips,” She giggles lightly, “Of course I tip, I think anyone who’s worked in the service industry tips better than average.”</p><p>“Yeah, after a couple of years working in fast food I tipped as much as I could!”</p><p>“Yeah, no kidding, I worked as a server for like two years and even now that was some of the hardest work I’ve done!”</p><p>“Order up!” Jamie’s voice calls up, Tony quickly rises, gesturing for Penelope to remain seated and collects their teas.</p><p>“You probably have things to do, I’m sorry for holding you up like this, and sorry again about running into you.” Her tone is light and perky, but Tony can hear a hint of disappointment.</p><p>“I really have nowhere to be, I’d like it if you would join me for some tea?” He offers lightly passing over her tea.</p><p>“I- I would like that.” They share blinding smiles.</p><p>After a long moment of smiling silly at each other, she rises and they make their way to the table in the corner that Tony had been making his way to when she ran into him. They sit closer than strangers normally would, and the smiles on their faces are impossible to miss, lighting up their faces.</p><p>The two sit in the café, chatting about anything and everything under the sun, time passes quickly as the two smile, flirt and laugh, sipping their tea.</p><p>“Here’s my card,” He pulls one out along with a pen when the conversation lulls into a comfortable silence, “and here is my cell number,” He quickly scrawls his number onto the backside, “please, call me anytime, I’d love to see you again.”</p><p>“And here’s mine, call me, for anything.” The card is the size of normal cardstock, but the extravagant pink lettering sets it apart from any others, she pulls a pen from her bag, the fuzzy ball at the end of it moving with the motions of her writing, “and that is my cell!”</p><p>She smiles up at him, then picks up his card, “Ooo! NCIS?”</p><p>“Yeah, Naval-“</p><p>“Criminal Invistigative Service,”</p><p>“Sorry, not many people know it,”</p><p>“I’ve never worked with NCIS before, but I know all the alphabet soup agencies,” Tony glances down reading the hot pink script.</p><p>“FBI? Well for <em>you</em> I guess I can look past you being a Feeb.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m the tech goddess of the BAU! Not a fan of the Bureau?”</p><p>“Are you with Unit 4, the FBI’s best solve rate team? And, eh not the biggest fan, every case I've worked with the FBI always has them being asses.” Tony asks in recognition, smiling at her bubbly enthusiasm, making an over-exaggerated look of annoyance when talking about the agents he’s worked with.</p><p>“Yup that’s the one!”</p><p>“With someone like you on the team how could they not be the FBI’s best!” at her giggle Tony’s teasing smile becomes blinding.</p><p>“What do you do with NCIS?”</p><p>“Senior Field Agent with MCRT 1.”</p><p>“Wait a second… doesn’t the MCRT have the highest solve rate in DC?”</p><p>“Yup! Which I know really pissed off some of the people in other agencies because before this year it was just me and Gibbs on the team. Even now it’s just a three-person team,”</p><p>“Wow, only three? Our team has six people, seven including me! Gibbs… I know that name from somewhere…”</p><p>“He’s got quite the reputation, you should see some of the interviews he does, grumpy bastard.”</p><p>“It’s weird to think of teams that don’t really use the media as a tool, we have our own Media Liason because of how important that aspect is for our job!”</p><p>“Yeah, but you work on serial murders and other horrible crimes, the kind that gets a lot of media attention. Ours are mostly contained within the navy and marines and get very little media attention.”</p><p>“That makes sense.” They smile at one another,</p><p>“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” Jamie says while approaching their table, “but we’ve gotta start closing.”</p><p>“No problem, we’ll get out of your way,” The two walk side by side out of the café.</p><p>“Thanks for the tea and the chat,” Penelope smiles sweetly up at the tall man.</p><p>“Thank you for bumping into me, I think this is the best possible result of that,”</p><p>“So, you admit it was my fault?”</p><p>“I plead the fifth!” They laugh lightly together.</p><p>“I should let you go, thank you again for today.”</p><p>“Let me know if you’re free this weekend, I would love to take you out for a proper date.”</p><p>“I’d really like that,” he opens his arms in invitation, she’s warm against his body, cutting through the chill of the night, his arms encircle her and at that moment Tony knows for certain that this is going to be wonderful.</p>
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